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CRINKILL

CO. OFFALY · IE

Crinkill
Críonchoill, Co. Offaly

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 08 / 08

Críonchoill · Co. Offaly

A garrison village a mile south of Birr, built around an army barracks that the IRA burned in 1922 and one thatched pub that has been in the same family for the best part of two centuries.

Crinkill is a garrison village, and that is the whole of it. It sits about a mile south of Birr on the Roscrea road, and it exists because in 1809 the British Army decided it needed a barracks within a few hours march of the Shannon crossings at Banagher and Portumna. Bernard Mullins built it for the Earl of Rosse, it was finished by 1812, and a village grew up against its walls to feed and water the soldiers. Population today is just under seven hundred.

For a hundred years it was an army town in miniature. The barracks became the depot of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) in 1881; some 6,000 men enlisted there during the First World War; an airfield went in alongside it in 1917. Then independence ended it. The British pulled out in 1922, the Irish Army moved in for a matter of weeks, and on 14 July 1922 a group of anti-Treaty IRA irregulars burned the barracks to the ground rather than let it be held. The last ruins were levelled in 1985. What you walk past now is a long stretch of perimeter wall with gun loops and a couple of arched gateways, and a factory built into one corner.

Do not come expecting a heritage town - Birr does that job a mile up the road, with its castle and its Georgian squares and its telescope. Crinkill has the barracks wall, the military cemetery (the only one in Offaly), a thatched pub that has fed half of south Offaly for two centuries, and a GAA club that now plays as part of CRC Gaels. That is an honest afternoon, and it pairs naturally with a night in Birr.

Population

682 (2016 census)

Pubs

1and counting

Founded

Grew around Birr Barracks, built 1809-1812

Coords

53.0800° N, 7.8985° W

01 / 08

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The barracks

Birr Barracks, built 1809-1812, burned by the IRA in 1922.

The whole village exists because the army did. The barracks held a depot for the Leinster Regiment, took in 6,000 recruits in the First World War, and was torched on 14 July 1922. The perimeter walls and gun loops still stand.

Stories & history → 02 The cemetery

The only military cemetery in County Offaly.

Opened in 1852 to serve the barracks, with a garrison church alongside. It held the dead of the garrison for 67 years. A regimental memorial was added by the Leinster Regiment association in 2013.

Stories & history → 03 The Thatch

One pub, thatched, in the same family for nearly 200 years.

The Thatch on the Military Road is the village in one building - bar at the front, restaurant since 1995 at the back. Named All-Ireland Pub of the Year twice. If you stop in Crinkill, you stop here.

Pubs & food →

02 / 08

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Thatch

Olde-world thatched bar, then a proper dining room

Pub & restaurant, Military Road

The only pub in the village and one of the oldest in south Offaly, thatched as the name says, in the same family for the guts of 200 years. Exposed brick, open beams, antique fireplaces. A restaurant was added in 1995 and the food now does the heavy lifting - contemporary Irish cooking, local produce, fine dining at the back or lighter plates in the bar. Named Offaly Pub of the Year and All-Ireland Pub of the Year in 1999 and 2001. Book the restaurant at the weekend.

03 / 08

Where to eat.

Place	Type	€	Local note
The Thatch	Restaurant at the Thatch pub, Military Road	€€	The reason people drive out from Birr. Contemporary Irish menu, seasonal produce, consistently rated the best table in the Birr area. Fine dining in the restaurant, informal in the bar. A restaurant association regular for awards. Weekend booking advised.

04 / 08

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Built 1809-1812, burned 14 July 1922

Birr Barracks

Lawrence Parsons, 2nd Earl of Rosse, argued for a barracks within marching distance of the Shannon, and Bernard Mullins built it at Crinkill between 1809 and 1812. Under the Cardwell and Childers reforms it became the depot of the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) in 1881. Around 6,000 recruits enlisted there during the First World War, and an airfield was added in 1917 - Sergeant John Allan was killed in 1919 when his plane crashed into Crinkill House. The Leinster Regiment was disbanded at independence in 1922, the Irish Army briefly took over, and anti-Treaty IRA irregulars burned the barracks on 14 July 1922. The ruins were demolished in 1985. The random-coursed perimeter walls survive, with gun loops on the north and west and arched gateways with bastion-shaped outer works. A memorial to the regiment was unveiled by its association in 2013.

Offaly's only military burial ground

The military cemetery

When the barracks needed a burial ground, a military cemetery was opened at Crinkill in 1852 - the only one of its kind in County Offaly. A garrison church was built at the same time, doing double duty: divine service at the weekend and a schoolroom for soldiers and soldiers' children during the week. The cemetery served the garrison for 67 years and holds the dead of the regiments that passed through. Roman Catholic soldiers walked up to St Brendan's in Birr for Mass. The local historian Stephen Callaghan has written the full history of the ground for Offaly County Council.

Críonchoill

The name

Crinkill is an anglicisation of the Irish Críonchoill, usually read as the withered or decayed wood - an older, wooded landscape carried inside the name long after the trees and then the barracks came and went.

05 / 08

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

The barracks wall and cemetery There is no formal trail, but the honest walk in Crinkill is the length of the surviving barracks perimeter wall on the Military Road - gun loops, the arched gateways, the pedimented gable at the northwest corner - and on to the military cemetery. It is the whole story of the place laid out along one road.

2-3 km loopdistance

45 minutes to 1 hourtime

Into Birr Crinkill sits about a mile south of Birr, and walking or cycling the short stretch in puts you straight into the town - Birr Castle Demesne, Emmet Square, the Georgian malls. The realistic way to use Crinkill is as a quiet base a mile from all of that.

2 km one waydistance

25 minutes on foottime

06 / 08

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

Quiet and green, Birr Castle Demesne gardens waking up a mile away. Good light along the old barracks wall.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings and Birr Vintage Week in early August fill the area; the Thatch is busiest then. Book the restaurant.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Clear days, low crowds, the demesne in Birr at its best. The best season for a quiet visit.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short, damp days and little to do outdoors. The Thatch and its fireplaces keep going; the rest of the village goes quiet.

◐ Mind yourself

07 / 08

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Expecting an intact barracks

There is no barracks to tour. It was burned in 1922 and the last buildings were demolished in 1985. What survives is the perimeter wall, the gun loops and a couple of gateways - genuinely worth a look, but it is a ruin and a wall, not a visitor attraction.

Treating Crinkill as a destination in its own right

It is a small village with one pub and a barracks wall. The heritage, the gardens, the shops and the rest of the pubs are in Birr, a mile north. Use Crinkill for the Thatch and the military history, then go up the road.

Getting there.

By car

Crinkill is about 2 km south of Birr on the R439 toward Roscrea, roughly 5 minutes. Birr is 35 minutes south of Athlone and about 90 minutes from Dublin via the M6 and N62.

By bus

No regular service through Crinkill itself. Birr, a mile north, is the nearest pick-up, with Bus Éireann links to Tullamore and Athlone. Local Link covers parts of the rural area; check timetables. Realistically you drive.

By train

No station. The nearest is Athlone (about 35 minutes by car) on the Dublin-Galway line. Hire a car or take a bus on from there.

By air

Shannon Airport is about 90 minutes west. Dublin Airport is roughly 2 hours north-east.